1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates generally to a device that removably attaches to an infant's hand and which also can secure an object such as a toy thereto so as to assist, encourage and teach the infant to grip the toy.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In the prior art, there is a device commonly referred to as a "universal cuff", designed to assist individuals with motor skill deficiencies to hold utensils, such as a fork or spoon. The "universal cuff" is a band of material that slides onto a person's hand, and is adjustable to hold the "universal cuff" on differently sized hands. A pocket is provided in the "universal cuff" for accommodating the handle of a utensil, such as a fork or spoon. "Universal cuffs" are designed to assist people who know how, but are physically unable to properly grip such utensils. The "universal cuff" is not appropriate for keeping a toy in an infant's hand because the infant can easily slide the "universal cuff" off his or her hand.
In addition, because the "universal cuff" continuously contacts the palm of the hand the "universal cuff" provides continuous sensory feed-back to the user. Such continuous feed-back is not helpful to teaching an infant to grip a toy because it is desirable to give as little sensory feed-back as possible when the infant is not gripping the toy and as much sensory feed-back as possible when the infant is gripping the toy. By providing a large difference in sensory feed-back between the gripping and non-gripping states, an infant should learn to grip faster. Furthermore, by having the palm partially covered by the strap of the "universal cuff", the infant would not learn to associate gripping with the sensory feed-back normally associated with the covered area. This might cause the infant to rely on other sensory feed-back (e.g. vision) to determine whether he/she is gripping an object. Such reliance on other sensory feed-back is not preferable because infants should be encouraged to utilize and develop all forms of sensory feed-back.
Also in the prior art are various devices used to removably attach a pacifier to the clothing of an infant. For example, one such device uses a spring biased clip and a piece of flexible nylon fabric to attach a pacifier to an infant's clothing. The clip is secured to the infant's clothing at about the middle of the infant's chest. The nylon fabric is attached at one end to the clip, and at the other end to the pacifier, and is long enough to permit the infant to have the pacifier in his/her mouth. When the infant removes the pacifier from his/her mouth, the pacifier is prevented from falling to the floor by the device. However, once the pacifier leaves the infant's mouth, assistance is required to put the pacifier back in the infant's mouth.